Antonio de Luca: bail bid for man accused of trying to remove almost 300kg of meth from a digger

A western Sydney sparky allegedly tried to hot-wire an excavator he thought was packed with hundreds of kilograms of meth, a court has heard.

Police allege an electrician allegedly tried to hot-wire an excavator as part of a desperate bid to access the drugs he believed were hidden inside but his silk says he was merely a “gofer”.

Antonio Norman de Luca, 26 of Prospect, appeared in Central Local Court on Thursday (November 25) to apply for bail a month after being arrested on a single count of attempting to possess a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug.

While his barrister, Greg James QC, described the tasks he allegedly performed as “menial” the prosecution painted a very different picture before Magistrate Clare Farnan.

The court heard authorities had allegedly detected the 295kg of meth when the digger, which came from Hong Kong, passed through customs.

The digger where police allegedly found the meth.

Police say they removed the meth and covertly watched as de Luca and his co-accused, 30-year-old Rydalmere concrete cutter Afif Saliba and Raymond Saab, 25, of Merrylands, allegedly tried to gain access to the drugs.

The prosecution told the court the key to the machine was lost and so de Luca attempted to hot-wire it so they could move it out of the Penrith warehouse where it was being stored to Saliba’s work premises.

The court heard de Luca also allegedly made a $5000 transaction at a Commonwealth Bank branch to facilitate the transport of the digger.

“The prosecution submission is his role is not insignificant. Perhaps he is not the top, but certainly not the minion,” the crown said.

“He performs simple but critical tasks. Making payment to the bank, getting the excavator started.

“The substance was a border controlled drug – he doesn’t need to know which one.

“It’s an offence of intention – what’s required is an intent to perform the act.”

One of the co-accused is arrested.

Mr James QC told Magistrate Farnan there were legal issues with the charge laid against his client.

“A real issue arises as to his knowledge of what was in the excavator,” Mr James QC said.

“Did he have sufficient knowledge to believe, wrongly, there were drugs in the excavator?

“He was so remote to what was happening, his intent was to help Mr Saab take possession of what was in the excavator and in fact there was nothing.”

The prosecution argued in effectively destroying a $100,000 piece of machinery during their prolonged attempts to find the drugs, de Luca had to have known the shipment was of great value.

The crown referenced a covert audio recording made by police of the men’s alleged attempts to access the drugs.

“They were trying to get into the counter weight knowing something was meant to be in there and expressing frustration at not being able to find it,” the court heard

“No one has some kind of epiphany that what they are doing is wrong and concern that they might find something illicit.

“There is nothing but surprise and disappointment.”

The court also heard about a search warrant of de Luca’s home which allegedly uncovered 30 SIM cards, three kilograms of marijuana and 11 encrypted devices.

“These are not normal mobile phones which contain readily available encrypted mobile apps,” the prosecutor said.

“These are encrypted mobile devices generally available only through criminal associations – it’s not something you can go to buy at the Good Guys.”

The drugs allegedly confiscated by the authorities.

The court heard de Luca, who appeared in the court via videolink from Parklea prison, may not face trial until 2023.

“If he was in effect the gofer for others it would be eminently likely the period detained would surpass that sentence,” Mr James said.

Magistrate Farnan refused bail and de Luca will next appear before court on December 15.